Companies like Dyson and Ford are making ventilators to aid hospitals during Covid-19

Big companies around the world are lending a hand to governments in making medical supplies for coronavirus

Companies like Dyson, Tesla and Ford are aiding governments by making medical supplies for use during the coronavirus outbreak.

The UK government has ordered 10,000 ventilators from Dyson, which has designed a new type of ventilator in response to the outbreak. These new ventilators are still subject to passing stringent medical tests, but are expected to be available in a number of weeks.

Dyson’s prototype, called the ‘CoVent’, is said to draw from Dyson’s previous technology — it is powered by a digital motor, and does not require a fixed air supply. It was developed by the pioneering company in just 10 days.

Dyson was among the manufacturers contacted by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to help increase the National Health Service’s supply of ventilators. The company will produce 15,000 in total, donating a further thousand to the country and 4,000 abroad.

On Monday of this week, car company Fiat began converting one of its car plants in China to manufacture face masks, estimating one million a month.

In the US, Ford and Tesla have pledged their support to making more ventilators, along with the Formula 1 team in the UK.

Here in Ireland, the Open Source Ventilator (OSV) Ireland project began two weeks ago, made up of a team of an international community of engineers, designers and medical professionals with the aim of developing a low-cost, easily-assembled ventilator. The group has said there has been “rapid progress” on the project already.

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